Sick Day

Liam is suffering from his first bad cold. He hasn’t been sleeping well for the past week, which we attributed to teething or growing or both. Then yesterday he started to sound congested. Today his sweet little coos sound like a garburator and he’s hacking like an old man. Poor monkey. I’m not feeling the greatest myself – bit of cold and a lot of missed sleep. Such is life… I dream of the day when I’ll catch up on my rest. My dad tells me not to hold my breath. Twenty seven years later, he’s still waiting for the day!

Despite slightly compromised nighttime sleep (trying to stay positive about it!), the past couple weeks have been good. On Monday the 7^th, I went to my first Ceroc dance class with Elanor (the neighbour who also introduced me to Zumba). Ceroc is a mix of modern swing and Latin; a group meets in Stirling on Mondays for classes and social dancing. I had a blast! Brendan says I have a dance persona – an alter ego he affectionately calls “Smokin’ Sally”.  She was out in full force on Monday and is looking forward to her next chance to dance (if only the regular me weren’t sick today!).

On Thursday the 10^th, Brendan got word that his Master’s thesis on Hegel and Henry George has been accepted for publication! He had secretly submitted it to an academic publishing house (didn’t even tell me!) and was very excited to receive their favourable response. I’m really happy for him. He worked extremely hard on that paper – it will be very gratifying for him to see it bound and published. Joel (my brother-in-law) suggested that he give it a catchy title like “Political Theory and You”, or “Eat, Shrink, and Be Philosophical” (after all, that cookbook must have sold over a million copies!) – we had a good laugh about that! (B actually doesn’t remember the title of his paper – that’s how catchy it is!)

That same day, I got my first editing job. I had just started to get the wheels in motion on the home business B and I have been talking about, when my first job landed in my lap! CCO (the university campus ministry I worked for a couple years ago) was looking to get their faith study material edited for a reprint, but had not found anyone for the job – until they found me! I finished my first assignment last week. B and I had to do some schedule shuffling to allow me time to work, but we managed well. I think this business is going to work out for us.

Sunday the 13^th, Brendan planned a special Valentine’s Day date. He arranged for friends to look after Liam and took me out for dinner and a movie. It was so nice to go on a date again! We had been out once before he left for Scotland, but I consider this our first real date since Liam’s birth. I felt almost giddy as I sat across from Brendan at dinner – as though time had spun back a couple years and we were two strangers on our second date… It’s nice to remember how much fun we had together back then – and wonderful to recognize that life is even better now! It’s amazing how love grows…

After dinner we walked over to the theatre to see “The King’s Speech”. Excellent movie – one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. If you haven’t seen it yet, go!

Last Saturday we met up with Lorraine and her partner Graeme for dinner (Lorraine is the friend who showed us around Glasgow in December). They have a friend who owns an Italian restaurant in Stirling, so they come up every once in a while to enjoy a meal at his place. They invited us to join them this time – we had a lovely evening.

Liam has been sitting on my lap making pterodactyl sounds for the past little while. He is also covering my arm and the desk in drool. His tolerance for my divided attention seems to be waning though, so I should probably wrap this up.  Time for a cuddle and a nap!

(Since no post is complete without photos, here are a couple from a recent bath time. More coming soon!)

Island off an Island off an Island

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove down to the harbor to take in a bit more of our surroundings. Having arrived in the dark the night before, we had not gotten the full effect of Tobermory’s charming waterfront. It was nice to see it again in the sunlight (which we were very glad to see peeking through the clouds – promising a day of decent weather).

The drive from Tobermory to Iona, our next destination, took about and hour and a half, with a few stops along the way to take photos of the landscape (and the sheep!). Similarly to Skye, Mull is a place of rugged island beauty. The hills were not as green at this time of year, but they were still impressive – shrouded in mist, silent, haunting, proud.

We stopped in the middle of the road to look at these sheep - they seemed just as interested in us as we were in
them! They kept getting closer and closer until they were right up against the car. Some of them even ran down from the hills to join the party!

We reached the ferry to Iona just in time to cross. We thought it ran every ten minutes but discovered that this schedule only applies in the summer. At this time of year, the crossing is hourly. We were fortunate to arrive when we did, as our time on Iona would have otherwise been cut significantly short.

Iona seen from the ferry

Liam enjoying the ferry ride!

Iona is primarily a place of pilgrimage. Its resident population is only about 125, but it sees over 140, 000 tourists a year. Fortunately, we were the only visitors on February 5^th! I’m glad for that, as I think something of the island’s spirit would be stifled by hoards of tourists milling about.

Iona’s Christian story begins in the year 563, when St. Columba (an Irish monk) founded a monastery there. Tradition has it that Columba is responsible for the conversion of much of Scotland to Christianity. With the founding of the monastery, Iona was to become the spiritual hub of Scotland, and a renowned centre for learning and artistic excellence. The art of stone carving was perfected here, many examples of which can still be admired in the abbey and museum.

Iona Abbey

Detail of St. Martin's Cross (this cross has been standing for over a thousand years)

After the Scottish Reformation of 1560, the abbey and nunnery gradually fell into ruin. It was not until the 20^th century that the abbey was reconstructed (the nunnery remains in ruin). Today the abbey is used as an ecumenical place of worship, and is home to the Iona Community.

Nunnery

Brendan and I both took the opportunity to spend a moment in prayer during our visit to the abbey. The word that impressed itself upon me at that time was “purpose”. The history of Iona is steeped in a sense of purpose. Whether or not all the stories of St. Columba are completely accurate, he did play an important role in the spreading of Christian faith in this country. God assigned Columba a task, and set a purpose for this tiny isle. We too are assigned a task – our lives also have purpose. As I prayed in the abbey, I was moved by the fact that the same God who gave Iona its place in history ordains the purpose of my own life. Brendan and I don’t know what is in store for us and for our family, but we do know that our lives have meaning, and that God has a purpose for us. Our task is not of the same magnitude as Columba’s but it is still important – our faithfulness still counts. I felt inspired by this reflection to remain as open as I can to God’s guidance and to the opportunities he sets before me. This inspiration was later confirmed when B and I talked about our time of reflection and realized that our thoughts had overlapped.

We left the abbey to find that it had started raining again. Not much was open in the way of shelter, so we ate our lunch in the entrance of a closed gift shop. By the time we finished eating the rain had stopped (Scottish weather at its finest!), so we climbed part way up the island’s highest dun (hill) to enjoy the view.

View from the top of the dun

We had to catch the 2:30pm ferry off Iona in order to make it in time for the 5pm ferry from Mull to Oban. From our picturesque viewpoint we thought we had plenty of time – as it turned out, we had to make an epic sprint to catch the ferry! We started down the dun at a good pace, but when I saw how close the ferry was to shore and how far we were up the road, I decided to run. Chris followed suit. As we approached the ferry, we noted with dismay that it was already pulling away from the dock. Fortunately the crew spotted us and lowered the ramp so we could embark. We told them that B and Liam were not far behind (B couldn’t run as fast with the extra 18lbs strapped to his chest!), but the crew decided we would have to leave without them. Chris and I were just about to get off the boat when we caught sight of Brendan. We gestured wildly for him to run. The ramp was lowered again and he got on, flushed and winded, but glad to have made it! So it was that we left the Isle of Iona, off the Isle of Mull, of the Isle of Great Britain – an island off an island off an island!

That night we stayed at a hostel in Oban, a port city known as the gateway to the isles. We went to Mass at the Cathedral of St. Columba the next day, had a quick cup of coffee at a local pancake place (the menu featured Canadian pancakes with “maple flavoured syrup” – they don’t know what they’re missing!), and then headed towards home. On the way we stopped at a hiking trail to walk in the woods for a bit – it wasn’t raining and the walk was very enjoyable. I took advantage of the woodsy scenery to get some practice with the manual settings on the camera. As a result I trailed far behind the others, but they didn’t seem to mind. It’s nice not to be rushed.

Oban

Chris dropped us off at home early evening, in time to put Liam down (who, incidentally, rolled from his tummy to his back for the first time that evening!!!), eat dinner and watch a movie before calling it a night. Yet another great weekend in Scotland. 

Liam on his 5 month birthday

The Awesome Rock Fortress of Dunadd

I mentioned in an earlier post that the documentary series we watched on the history of Scotland had given us some ideas of places to visit. One of these places was, as our host Neil Oliver put it (with great exuberance and a most emphatic Scottish accent), “the Awesome Rock Fortress of Dunadd”. Dunadd is a hillfort which was occupied first in the Iron Age, and later by the kings of Dalriada, an ancient kingdom in what is now the west of Scotland. A footprint is carved out of the rock at the top of the fort – during an ancient coronation ceremony, the king would place his foot in the carved stone and so be joined with the land he was destined to rule.

We visited Dunadd on Friday morning, on our way to the Isle of Mull. We were joined on our weekend expedition by Brendan’s classmate Chris, who wanted to see more of Scotland and offered his vehicle for the trip. We left early and made it to Kilmartin Glen, where the hillfort is located, around noon. Before reaching Dunadd, we stopped at a museum about the area called Kilmartin House. It was closed, but the man working there graciously opened the place up for us so we could have a look. He then gave us directions to the “Awesome Rock Fortress,” which was not far from the museum. It was rainy that day and the wind was fierce, especially at the top of the hill. A couple times I felt that it might actually knock me down! But we survived the mighty elements and returned triumphant to the car to eat our salami sandwiches.

The stone footprint

Trying to withstand the wind!

Chris as King of Scotland!

Kilmartin Glen is one of the richest areas of archeological finds in Scotland, perhaps because of its proximity to the heart of the ancient kingdom. After our visit to Dunadd, we came across some standing stones in a field. It was still raining, so we didn’t stay long, but I managed to get a few pictures.

That night we stayed in Tobermory, on Mull. The ferry left at 5pm from Oban (on the mainland), and we made it to our hotel by about 6pm. We had dinner in a small pub, one of the few open on a Friday evening in the off-season. I imagine Tobermory sees much more activity in the summer, when most of the tourists are out. Apparently February is not the most popular month to travel – we were the only guests at the Park Lodge Hotel and seemed to be the only non-locals at the pub! 

I'm Back...

Though mostly spent at home, the past two weeks have been full. In the 16 days following my last post we’ve managed to have dinner company five times, be invited to dinner twice, and go away for a weekend. I also attended my first Zumba class with a new friend, and travelled to Glasgow all by myself to meet up with a few girls for dinner (mom’s first night out sans baby!). In addition to all this socializing, B managed to start working on his thesis and I enrolled in an online translation course. I am imagining more than a few heads shaking as this is read… don’t worry, we’re finding a few minutes here and there to rest! Honestly though, in the midst of all the activity we are happy. We’re busy but not stressed. We spend a lot of time playing. Here’s the evidence: 

Modelling a winter hat from Nana & Papa
(the hat isn't supposed to stick up like that -
 I stuffed a shirt inside it!)

All dressed up for a walk

New toy from a friend I met at Baby Sensory

He always wiggles his way down into the hole...

Another toy (both are borrowed)... this one makes noise!

Hanging out with Dad

And the pièce de résistance: The Russian Hat Series (hat courtesy of Chris Widmann)

Stay tuned for news of our weekend on the Isles of Mull and Iona…